Alternative Rock music videos

Arctic Monkeys 'Crying Lightning'.
The lighting is low key and there is a narrative as well as band performance.



Dido 'Here with me'
The lighting here is low key. It is purely narrative with no band performance.



Enter Shikari 'Quelle Surprise'
This falls into the alternative rock genre. The lighting is low key with only dark colours included and is 100% band performance with no narrative.



Foo Fighters 'Dear Rosemary'
This music video has low key lighting and is 100% narrative based with no band performance.

Inspiring music video

'Drunk' by Ed Sheeran carries some ideas that relate to a few of mine. This video is about him getting drunk to feel better about breaking up with his girlfriend. The ideas I have for my music video include alcohol and drinking to feel better about life and to try to get through the bad dreams and the sleepless nights that the character has.

Ed Sheeran's video carries a slightly more comical feel to it which is shown through the appearance of the cat. However, I like the shots that are used to show flashbacks of the girl and to show that Ed is thinking of her and missing her. I think shots like this could work well in my music video. I could include them between shots of him walking to the pub and drinking. This would work well as it would enlighten the audience to the fact that he is depressed and upset because he misses how his relationship with his girlfriend used to be and he is struggling in life which is why he drinks and gets up in the middle of the night and walks to the pub to get more alcohol. 

Shots in the sunlight of them laughing and cuddling whilst holding hands is what I have in mind. This would be effective as it would show their past happiness and would make it clear that this is what he is thinking about on his walk and is what he is so unhappy about. I will have to adjust the saturation and the brightness levels to make it clear that the shots of them together are flash backs so they fit in and do not look odd throughout the video. 

Handwriting effect inspiration

I came across 'The Streets' album 'Original Pirate Material' and really liked the idea of using handwriting to display the names of the songs on the album.

This is the back of the album cover and I think that the handwriting effect is really nice. It is unusual and slightly abstract opposed to a neat, typed appearance which is what I would like to use for my album cover. From seeing this, I looked back on the designs I have already for the front of my album and I think a signature of 'Rob Young' has potential to look good. Therefore, I scribbled down some different styles of writing 'Rob Young'

I also took some pictures of them close up so I had a better view of them which enabled me to choose a hanful which I thought might work well. I liked the thickest ones the best and I also thought the scruffy ones would look better than the others.

I then opened these images in Adobe Photoshop to see what I could do with them to make them suitable for the digipack, this is what I came up with:



I selected the writing only so I was able to put it onto one of my album designs. I realise there is a lot of work to be done to this to finalise it and make it look professional, however I think I will stick to the idea of using handwriting!

 I will probably not use this image for the front cover of the album, however this comparison is just to show why I prefer the handwriting oppsed to the text. I want the overall look of the character to be 'messy' and I want him to look as though he doesn't look after himself. I got this idea from the message the song brings which is how he has troubles in his life etc and I think the handwriting shows this.

Video containing similar shots to my ideas..

These New Puritans 'Elvis' - Director: Saam Farahmand from Tom Lindsay on Vimeo.
Above is a video very different to what I will be producing, however it has shots and ideas similar to mine.

 I want to include shots similar to this in my video. I am planning on putting a spotlight behind Ed's head so I get a silhouette of the side of his face which I think will be very effective when he lip syncs the lyrics.

 I also like this shot as the facial expression on this girls face shows upset/troubled emotions which relates to the emotions in my track. Therefore, I will ask Ed to use these facial expressions in order to deliver the emotions of the song.

Another thing that I like about this video is the black background. It is another feature that adds to the effect of the video and helps to show the dark emotions of the song.

Facebook inspiration!

Facebook is sometimes very handy! Being a graphics and media student, I have friends on facebook who are also very interested in design. By keeping up with the constant posts on here, I was lucky enough to come across some really cool photos that gave me ideas for my digipack.
These photos have inspired me to go to different locations such as the beach and get shots similar to the ones shown below. I also really love the editing that has been done and these kind of colours would work well with the mood and genre of my track.

These are all photos from a friend who has kindly agreed for me to re-post them.

I thought these kind of photos would work well for the inside panels of my digipack as the text could go down the side of the photo on the opposite side to the character.

Designing the Digipack

In order to start designing my digipack, I had to find a template to design around. I found a template on the internet and copied it onto adobe illustrator. To make things easier, I made my own template by drawing over the top of the one I had found.

I chose to do a six panel digipack opposed to a four panel or eight panel. I thought this was most appropriate as I don't want it to be under detailed, but at the same time, I don't want it to be over detailed. I am still going to try to keep the digipack simple, similar to the poster as I think it sets the right mood and delivers the correct message.

Below are examples of simple digipack covers that I have taken some inspiration from. Adele keeps her poses very simple with the black and white effect which really suits her music style. I also think the style of my song is very similar to hers in many ways although the genres are different which is why I have taken inspiration from her album covers in particular.

Research into The Script

From realizing that The Script have produced a similar music video to what I'm going for, I decided to look into their CD covers and any posters they have for inspiration for my ancillary task.

Above are a selection of the CD covers from The Script. These are a good example of what I will be doing for my digipack. The facial expressions of the band match what my character will look like. These expressions show maturity opposed to a band singing parody songs etc. You can tell from the cover of these albums that the songs may be emotional and include the genre of 'soul'. The colours help connote this, especially the top-left and bottom-right CD covers. They are sinister and gentle colours opposed to bright, loud colours that may portray up beat songs. 

I also noticed from these covers that the main singer has the 'star image'. He is the biggest person on the cover and is also at the front to show he is the face of the band. I will be using this method  on my digipack- a close-up of Ed (my actor) will help to secure his face to his music which will then help to attract the target audience. 

The posters share the same characteristics of the 'star image' effect as the CD covers. Black and white is an effect I am very keen on using due the mellow mood created by the track I am making the video to.

Inspiration

I have been thinking about what I want my music video to look like. Here is some inspiration.



The low angle shots of his feet are what I would like to include in my music video. They connote sadness and 'low' moods which is ideal for the track I am doing my music video to.
The facial close ups are also relevant to what I want to include in my video as they show expressions and emotions. This will help to show the feelings of the character which are delivered through the song.
One of the differences that there is between the ideas of my music video and this one is the lip syncing. I do not plan on having the character in my music video lip syncing the whole way through as I feel it creates more of a mellow mood.
Slow head movement and looking down on the ground, (shown by low-angle close ups) is what the main focus of my music video will be. I will use many shots to show the emotions of my character as the song is very emotionally focussed.

I am undecided..but I may include some performance shots. This would include Ed (the main character) singing in to a microphone with dark lighting in a plain room (maybe one of the studios at school)

From looking at this video, I have noticed that to make it look professional, I need a wide variety of shots and I need to edit them together so there is a constant change to keep the viewer intrigued.

Background Research - Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. I wanted to look at some posters and digipack covers by a band of this genre to get some inspiration on fonts, layout and graphical features.

Here are four examples of the posters from the Arctic Monkeys.I like the one on the top-right. It is very 'indie' and individual. However, the other three are very 'comic' like. The fonts are similar to each other which carries continuity. However, the bottom left poster had bold, plain font. This is what most appeals to me for my poster, I do not plan on using any funky font as it would not sell my track correctly.

 Above are some album covers for the Arctic Monkeys. The top two relate to my ideas with the black and white effect. I really want to include this in either my poster (possibly both) as I think it really relates to the mood given from the song. There are no colourful moods represented in the song, it is very emotional-but depressing which I think is what black and white is good at connoting if used correctly.

The fonts here are similar to those on the posters which I should keep in mind as I may need to use the same fonts for continuity purposes!

Font Research

Here is some font research for my Ancillary Tasks. It is important that I use an appropriate font as it contributes hugely to the vibe given.

I used 'Eyes Closed' to show the fonts as this is the Album name that I most like at the moment.

Mise en scène - Costume

I want the character in my music video to wear casual clothing. The latest fashion is indie which is good for me because it is nice and easy to get hold of appropriate clothing. Chinos with a casual shirt or t-shirt is the route im going down. I have to consider what the weather conditions will be as at this time of year it can be very cold! It is not essential to have a specific outfit so I can be flexible as to what my character wears. However, I want him to look slightly vulnerable and insecure, therefore jeans with a baseball cap etc would not work!

I had a look through Topman to see what clothing is out and too see what is available for me to use. This means that if my actor does not have the clothes that are necessary, I have the option of taking a trip here and buying the clothes needed.

I have an image in my head of how the character will look. These black coats are what I imagine him wearing, walking along with his hands in his pockets, showing vulnerability. I would prefer the jacket not to have a hood as that shows youth and I don't feel this would fit the song.

These chinos are what I have in mind along with a coat like the ones above. I think they will denote a casual look.

Along with the clothing above, I thought a plain white t-shirt would work well. This keeps the look simple and casual and does not demonstrate a particular fashion.

These shoes will go nicely with the chinos and are also very casual. This fits nicely with the look I want my character to have.